Recent Videos

Recognizing Lame Cows Early

Dr. Proudfoot joins us to discuss early identification of lameness in dairy cattle. Learn about how the prevalence of lameness is often underestimated, how you can improve detection, and some automated tools to aid in early detection that are currently in development.

Christina Petersson-Wolfe joins us to discuss on-farm milk culturing from deciding which cows to test to using results. Learn about collecting and plating samples, identifying types of pathogens, and treatment recommendations for different types of infection.

Business and Labor Management

An Overview of Work Safety and Health Issues on Dairy Farms

Dr. Dennis Murphy, The Pennsylvania State University

Dairy farming can be a hazardous occupation! In this presentation from Dr. Dennis Murphy, you can learn about potential hazards and how to mitigate risk on farms. Dr. Murphy will discuss safe animal handling practices, working in and around confined spaces, tractor and machinery safety, and respiratory hazards. He’ll also spend some time talking about safety and health regulations as well as how to manage worker safety and health on dairies.

In this video, Felix discusses both the importance of having well-defined compensation packages and how you can achieve this for your farm. He covers compensation structure, including direct pay and other benefits, some different methods of determining bonuses, and tips on how to make these strategies work for you.

There are many financial benchmarks and ratios a lender will use to evaluate a dairy farm’s financial position and progress. During this webinar, Gary sorted out and discussed 8 key items that are critical for a dairy producer to monitor.

In this presentation, Mr. Hill will define confined space and help identify some of the spaces on farms that may qualify, as well as discuss some specific hazards of common farms spaces. You’ll also learn about permits and best management practices, as well some strategies to safely manage confined space issues.

Bob Milligan, Dairy Strategies
Hear from Dr. Bob Milligan, Cornell University Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management Professor Emeritus and Senior Consultant at Dairy Strategies, LLC, as he discusses the current thinking in human resource management. Current research substantiates that great leaders and supervisors focus on relationship building, communication, clarity and feedback rather than command and control.

This handout was used as part of the presentation; feel free to print it out and use it as you watch the recording.
View the recorded webinar here.

Managing Worker Safety and Health on Dairy Farms

Dr. Dennis Murphy, Penn State University

Dr. Murphy rejoins us to elaborate on worker safety and health. First you’ll learn why it’s important to maintain a safe environment, then Dr. Murphy will walk you through how you can implement a worker safety program. From policies to training, hazard identification to prevention and control, learn how to make a safer farm environment for everyone!

This webinar included success stories of how extension educators have organized programs to educate the public, how they have used media/social media successfully, and how producers have reached out to communities.

Breakfast on the FarmFaith Cullens
Faith discussed how MSU Extension has developed a statewide program to address bridging the gap between the producer and the public via educational farm tours entitled “Breakfast on the Farm.” She also talked about some strategies for successfully hosting an educational event with large crowds on a working farm.

Connecting with Your CommunityDarin Mann
Darin discussed his efforts to engage and educate the local community about his family's heifer raising operation.

Reaching Out Through Social MediaAndy Kleinschmidt
Andy, an extension educator for The Ohio State University, discussed his use of social media in reaching out to the public.

The use of social media in public engagement and extension is a relatively new phenomenon, and many scientists are cautious about using it professionally. Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam joined us to discuss the prevalence of social media in extension work, how she and her colleagues at UC Davis have used it, and some of the potential risks and pitfalls of using various platforms.

Calf and Heifer Management

Automated Calf Feeders on US farms: How do They Work?

Dr. Marcia Endres, University of Minnesota

During this webinar, Dr. Endres summarized some results of a field study with 38 farms that use automated calf feeders. She also addressed some key housing and management practices used on these farms and how they might influence calf health and welfare.

Your calves are the future of your dairy, so isn’t it important to keep them healthy? In this webinar, Dr. Smith discussed best practices for preventing diseases in calves. As disease in calves is controlled mainly by management factors, he focused on managing the calf’s environment, some critical control points to pay close attention to, and early detection of calf diseases.

Here, Jason Karszes discussed some key items every dairy farmer should consider in heifer raising. He covered the costs involved, factors that influence those costs, the economic impact of the replacement program on the dairy farm's performance, and several other factors to consider in a replacement program.

Dr. Overton joins us to discuss heifer raising costs. In this presentation, he focuses on the differences in conventional vs. intensive heifer systems. Within this framework, he’ll walk you through an analysis of costs incurred in different growth stages, compare models, and touch on the impact that heifer rearing programs can have on later lactation.

Nutrition is a vital part of calf health and development, and making sure that calves get the nutrients they need in an efficient manner is an important job! In this session, Dr. Thomas reviewed feeding systems for dairy calves in a group-housed setting. Watch this recording to learn about how to optimize nutrition, some practical concepts for ad libitum, acidified group feeding, to see comparisons of other available systems, and for a review of possible health benefits and challenges of feeding calves in a group setting.

It can be difficult to keep an efficient and effective heifer nutrition program. In this webinar, Dr. James discussed the challenges of meeting goals in heifer nutrition programs. Some of the critical control points he addressed are:

Facilities

Optimizing Facilities for Transition Cow Success

Ken Nordlund
During this session, Ken Nordlund reviewed field studies using Transition Cow Index (TCI) that suggest that limitations in housing are the primary risk factors for transition cow problems in freestall dairy herds.

Genetics

An Overview of Genomic Selection and Fertility

Dr. Pete Hansen, University of Florida

In this video, Dr. Hansen joins us to discuss genomic selection as it relates to fertility traits. Learn about single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the challenges in selecting for reproductive traits, and some of the current work in overcoming those challenges.

Dr. Joe Dalton, University of Idaho
Dr. Jose Santos, University of Florida

Drs. Dalton and Santos are each participating in research projects which are investigating the use of genomics in dairy cattle, both of which aim to improve fertility in the dairy cow. In this video we first hear from Dr. Dalton, then Dr. Santos, on the goals and progress of their respective AFRI-funded research projects.

In this session, Dr. Dechow reviewed genomic technology and implementation, comparisons of early genomic predictions to actual daughter proofs, a discussion of inbreeding, and how genomics can be used as a herd management tool.

Choosing sires is one of the more important decisions on a dairy, affecting herd health and productivity in future generations. In this webinar, Dr. Dechow joined us to discuss some key points you should consider when selecting sires. He covered:

Health and Diseases

Animal Welfare Certification Options

Dr. Jim Reynolds, Western University

In this session, Dr. Reynolds, Professor of Large Animal Medicine and Welfare at Western University College of Veterinary Medicine, discussed current options in animal welfare certification. He also covered the value of certification and how to determine if you should become part of one of these programs.

Vaccines are a vital part of maintaining the health and well-being of a dairy herd, but have you ever wondered about what makes them work? Dr. Grooms covered some of the basics of vaccinology. He included basic immunology and how vaccines work, as well as the different types of vaccines and important considerations for designing and implementing a vaccine program for your farm.

Lameness is a painful, costly, common and complex problem - a problem with which too many dairies struggle. Dealing with a lameness problem not only involves identifying and dealing with lame cows in the herd, but trying to prevent new cases from occurring in the first place. This webinar is focused on a number of best management practices that farms can utilize to try to minimize the number of cows that become lame - even when milk prices and profit margins are low.

Ketosis is the most common metabolic disease in dairy cattle, and it's important to be able to identify individual cows with ketosis as well as monitor herd prevalence. Dr. Oetzel discussed the testing process, including which tests can be used, the pros and cons of different tests, and testing strategies you may be able to use.

Dr. LeBlanc discusses various aspects of metritis in dairy cows. He discusses some of the contributing factors, such as lowered feed intake, bacteria loads, and various stressors, as well as diagnostic methods. He also covers the impact of metritis and efficacy of some of the available treatment options.

A successful lactation starts well before calving. Going back to the completion of her previous lactation and entry into the far dry cow pen, how we manage and feed the cow well before she approaches calving contributes to the likelihood of her achieving a high level of milk production and conceiving in a timely manner. In this presentation Dr. Overton walked through the opportunities and challenges in the far dry, close-up, and fresh pen, including nutritional and housing management, and discuss a few of the key monitoring approaches for evaluating performance.

In this webinar, Dr. McArt briefly reviewed the physiology of hyperketonemia development as well as β-hydroxybutyrate concentration cut points to use in treatment decision making. Dr. McArt discussed common treatments, including:

medication

method of action

dose

duration

effect

Herd-level testing and treatment strategies were presented as well as action recommendations following herd prevalence estimation.

Dr. Jan Shearer will walk you through how to create a standard operating procedure for non-ambulatory dairy cattle. He starts with some information on what an SOP is and what it does, then goes on to define “non-ambulatory cattle” and some of the causes and contributing factors. He wraps up with some example SOPs and suggestions for creating an effective SOP for your operation.

In this session Dr. Proudfoot discussed why using appropriate animal handling practices is so important for dairies! She talked about cow memory and how that can influence fear responses to handlers, as well as how you can determine whether your farm or your client's farm could benefit from a handling training program.

The space a dairy cow lives in can have a significant influence on her health and performance. During this webinar, Dan McFarland discussed dairy housing features that can influence cow comfort, methods to evaluate critical areas, and suggestions for improving those areas.

Heat Stress

Cooling Strategies During Heat Stress

Dr. Pete Hansen, University of Florida

Cooling dairy cows is the most important strategy to improve both milk production and reproduction during summer months. During this session, Dr. Hansen discussed opportunities that dairy farms can utilize to evaluate the effect of heat stress on their dairies. He also covered various environmental modifications that can be employed to improve cow performance.

Heat stress costs the American dairy industry approximately 1 billion dollars annually in production losses. In this session, Dr. Albert DeVries discussed the economic consequences of employing various strategies to reduce the effects of heat stress and how this affects the dairy farm’s profitability. Novel economic evaluation and approaches were discussed to educate producers on cost effective strategies to improve summer fertility.

Proper dietary programs are essential to cow health and performance during heat stress. Understanding what dietary changes can be made prior to and during summer heat stress are important for assisting thermoregulatory mechanisms of our modern high producing lactating dairy cows to aid in reducing the negative effects of heat stress. During this session, nutritional changes were presented for producers and consultants to make informed decisions on the proper dietary changes necessary to reduce the severity of summer heat stress.

Reproductive failure is the number one reason dairy cows involuntarily leave the dairy farm and summer heat stress amplifies this costly issue. However, managerial, hormonal and novel reproductive technologies are available which will reduce the severity of summer heat stress on reproduction. The various strategies were presented in detail to educate both producers and consultants to be able to implement reproductive program changes to mitigate summer’s negative effects.

Mastitis and Milking Management

Better Milk Quality from Better Mastitis Therapy Decisions

Dr. Ron Erskine, Michigan State University

Mastitis is one of the biggest chronic problems facing the dairy industry- it is ever present. In this session, Dr. Ron Erskine discussed how to better identify cases of mastitis through tools such as milk culturing, somatic cell count records, and treatment records.

In this webinar, Dr. Nickerson discusses the prevalence and treatment of mastitis in bred heifers, as well as several strategies for prevention. Learn about using teat seals, controlling horn fly populations, vaccinations, and feed additives that might help reduce the incidence of new infections.

The milking system is the heart of any dairy operation, and requires a lot of consideration! Dr. Thomson discussed the design and analysis of a milking system, including some reasons a producer might consider changing the milking system, frequency of evaluation, and basic system design. He also covered regular maintenance concerns and discussed the National Mastitis Council's analysis fundamentals and goals.

Christina Petersson-Wolfe joins us to discuss on-farm milk culturing from deciding which cows to test to using results. Learn about collecting and plating samples, identifying types of pathogens, and treatment recommendations for different types of infection.

Dr. Erskine joins us to discuss selective dry cow therapy. Learn about some of the research around selective and blanket dry cow therapy. He also discusses tactics for implementing selective therapy, from identifying and monitoring candidates to ensuring a clean environment.

Nutrient Management on Dairy Farms

Impact on Air Quality and Climate Change- Where the Dairy Industry Stands

Frank Mitloehner
John Fiscalini

During this session Dr. Frank Mitloehner discussed scientific findings as they relate to the impacts of dairy industry on environmental quality. He also summarized national and regional efforts to quantify and mitigate emissions, as well as developments in air quality regulation and litigation. John Fiscalini, a California dairy producer, discussed the more practical aspects of these issues.

Dr. Mike Van Amburgh of Cornell University discussed how low we can formulate dairy rations for nitrogen, and what this means for the cost of the ration and for environmental impact. We also heard from Mike McMahon, a dairy producer, on the practical side of on-farm nitrogen management.

During this session, Katharine Knowlton of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Jimmy Huffard, a dairy producer in Virginia, discussed recent research into phosphorus requirements for dairy cattle, the bioavailability of different phosphorus sources, and how these impact the dairy farm and the environment.

Nutrition of Milking and Dry Cows

Causes and Implications of Subclinical Hypocalcemia

Jesse Goff, DVM, Ph.D.

In this session held on November 11, 2014, Dr. Goff defined subclinical hypocalcemia and its causes. He also discussed the implications of subclinical hypocalcemia on cow health, with some emphasis on immune suppression.

There are numerous points in a nutrition program where problems may arise, especially when you're dealing with transition cows. In this webinar held on November 20, 2012, you can learn how to use records to track performance of transition and early lactation cows to diagnose problems in your nutrition program.

Unsure of where your dairy's feeding program might be leaking money? On November 7, 2013, Dr. Brouk discussed how you can do a little detective work to identify some common sources of unseen feed costs in a dairy herd. Just a few areas he covered included commodity shrink, mixer errors, refusals, and expense of inventory.

Hear from Dr. Heather Dann on the importance of transition cow management, and how feeding lower-energy transition diets could benefit a herd. From monitoring intake to coordinating various diets, Dr. Dann offers insights into setting cows up for success in their next lactation.

With so many variables affecting the quality of silage, it can be difficult to manage the fermentation process to produce an optimal feed. Dr. Kung covered the general factors which affect forage quality, the basic types of silage fermentation, factors that affect fermentation and silage stability, and some management practices to help in attaining high feeding value.

Formulating accurate diets for lactating dairy cows requires users to input body weight, milk production, milk composition and perhaps other factors such as days in milk and parity. If you are only feeding one cow, those numbers are easy to get, but if you are formulating for a group of cows, what numbers should you use?

Normand St-Pierre, The Ohio State University
Dr. St-Pierre discussed how to control feed costs using various methods. These methods include: getting the full value of forage crops, purchasing ingredients that are favorably priced, inventory management, producing things that you are being paid for, managing the herd structure, cow grouping, and feed additives.

In this session Dr. Tom Oelberg discussed managing TMR variability through the use of TMR audits. He covered what a TMR audit is, as well as factors that affect TMR consistency such as bunker face management, overfilling, under-processing of hay, improper loading of liquid supplements, worn equipment, and under-mixing.

Despite many advances in the nutritional management of dairy cows, we know that dry matter intake is not always maximized, nor is the way feed is consumed always ideal for the cow. In this dairy video, you can learn about the role that feeding behavior has on ensuring dairy cow health and productivity, including how, when, and what cows eat of the feed provided to them. Dr. DeVries will also discuss how we use that knowledge to evaluate feeding systems, including the management of feed and the feeding area. Strategies may then be implemented that allow cattle to have good access to the feed provided to them, and consume it in manner which is conducive to good health, productivity, and welfare.

In this webinar, Dr. Wiltbank discussed some studies on the effects nutrition can have on reproduction for high-efficiency dairy cattle. He talked about some important time periods to focus on, the effect of vitamin E on reproductive performance, dry period nutrition and post-partum body condition, and more,

Dr. Oetzel covered various aspects of treating and preventing subclinical hypocalcemia. In addition to the efficacy of dietary means of prevention, he discussed oral calcium supplements and how the calcium source can affect response.

Reproduction

Dairy Reproduction: Identifying Problems and Solutions for Your Herd

Ray Nebel, Select Sires

Many dairies experience difficulty in their reproduction programs, and a wide range of factors can affect reproductive success in a herd. In this session, Ray Nebel took a look at some of the factors that affect reproduction on dairies, including labor, nutrition, environment, and the cow herself. He also discussed how you can find and fix problems that could be affecting the success of your reproduction program.

Drs. Cabrera and Fricke of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed some new economic analysis tools for dairy reproduction programs. During this session, Dr. Cabrera discussed three main decision support systems, including the UW-DairyRepro$Plus and the Dairy Reproductive Economic Analysis. These tools are openly available at http://dairymgt.info/tools.php under the Reproduction heading.

Dr. Fricke covered two areas of reproductive research that have investigated new tools for reproduction and conclude each with an economic analysis of the data. The first new tool will be the use of accelerometer systems combined with various levels of synchronization for submitting cows for first AI service. The second tool will be new methods for nonpregnancy diagnosis coupled with strategies for resynchronization of ovulation.